Thursday, 26 November 2015

Picturegoer, December 17th 1949

December 17th 1949 issue of Picturegoer, initially a monthly magazine between 1921 and 1925 before returning as a weekly in 1931. The best bits of this issue are ideas for accessorising your Christmas party dress (page 19), and the letters page (page 3) featuring a letter from across the pond asking, 'Why do English film companies let American distributors of their pictures put out such trashy and misleading advertising material? Take The Blue Lagoon, for instance. This charming picture was advertised by sexy posters which gave the moviegoer the idea that he would see a semi-obscene saga of illicit love.'

There is also a great article on 'What Price Glamour?' (page 9). The writer argues that Hollywood has seen 'a significant shift from the synthetic to the real'. Gone are the synthetic blonde bombshells of the Jean Harlow variety, and in their place are stars who, Picturegoer claims, wear hardly any make-up at all like Olivia de Havilland, Ingrid Bergman and Joan Fontaine. 'The Hollywood emphasis upon glamour in the old sense is on its way out - and I don't think we will mind.'

Click HERE to read as one document, or click on the thumbnail pictures below to enlarge individual pages. (If it just goes into picture viewer mode, right click and opt for view image in a new tab so you can enlarge it to its fullest.)